Burning Out or Being Lazy? How Much is Enough in Kendo?

Kendo training can be insane actually. Your teacher gives you slash-and-burn training. It makes you hard and tough. But you don't get hurt either. When should you stop so you don't hurt yourself? So everyone knows you didn't stop because you are lazy?

Wannt Be Better? Go Beyond Your Limitation

We must push ourselves as hard as we can. In kendo, we always say, "the real training starts once your physical strength is gone". That means you are totally worn out physically and you think you cannot move.

It does not matter what you do, your body just does not move. But this is not your limit. You think you are there so you are done with training. No, no...

If you stop there, you will never know that it isn't your limit. Actually when your body stops moving, it is the time for your mind to take over your body. This is called "ki", or "chi" in Chinese.

You don't know how much power you have hidden inside your body. You move your body with ki, not with your muscles.

You must know how it feels like. Yes, it is tiring and you will hate your sensei giving you a very hard time, but later you will appreciate your teacher for giving your the hard time.

When Is The Right Time To Stop?

But you must remember that physical injuries will end your kendo life. So, don't think you are weak because you have to take a break from training.

You should stop when you feel

dizzy

difficult to breathe

sharp pains

pins and needles in your limbs or lips

I'm not a doctor so I cannot give you any medical advice but through my experience I am telling you to step training when you start experiencing the above mentioned symptoms.

During my high school training, many of my kohai (junior students) passed out or throw up because of hard training. We were young and we thought that was normal. But when I look back that time, it was so dangerous because we didn't have any doctors or medical advisers beside us.

Are You Brave Enough to Stop Training?

We must push ourselves until we go beyond our physical limitation. Then, we can really train our mental side of ourselves.

When you feel a pain, take a break. If you don't feel a pain but you want to stop even when you can still keep going, you are lazy and weak. Push yourself harder.

Be brave to stop training. Be sure to protect yourself.

Choose to train yourself harder tomorrow, rather than end your kendo life today.

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